The King’s Academy Sending 701 to Serve Around the Globe

SUNNYVALE, Calif, March 27, 2012 — The King’s Academy, based in Sunnyvale, will send 701 students, teachers, and parents to serve disadvantaged families and communities in need in seven different locations:  Mexico, Ecuador, Japan, Philippines, Kentucky, Los Angeles, and San Diego.  The King’s Academy has been sending students on service trips each year since the inaugural trip to Mexico 20 years ago and has expanded its outreach over the years.

Kevin Neuner, TKA’s Director of Spiritual Life, explains the goal:  “For TKA, the goal of service is not to go somewhere and simply perform a service, but rather for students to get engaged with local populations, get to know their stories, and see how their own gifts and talents can make a radical difference in the world.” Neuner states, “Our desire is for students to return having been transformed into a servant for life.”

This spring, a team of 506 ( 366 high school students and 140 parent volunteers and staff) will caravan down in 80 vehicles to Mexico where they will build 16 houses; renovate a church; build a school dining room, kitchen and kindergarten classroom; plus, host an afternoon “Kid’s Club” for neighborhood children.  The school donates and transports all of the building materials and tools for construction and all of the food to feed the tent city of volunteers for five days.

A new pilot trip to Guadalajara, Mexico, involves a team of 11 working at Hope House, a facility for orphaned and abused boys. The team will teach the boys drama, Bible, and English, and also run a sports camp. They are also building an aquaponics system for the Hope House, phase one of a sustainable food source system that combines growing tilapia fish and vegetables together in a fresh water tank.

A team of 14 will travel to Japan where they will team up with host missionaries and their local Japanese church to help staff and operate a Vacation Bible School and engage in evangelical outreach to Japanese students. TKA students will serve as day camp counselors for the campers and run the activities of the camp, which include crafts and games, plus Bible and English classes.

In Quito, Ecuador, a team of 29 students and staff will work with an organization called Inca Link and serve alongside missionaries and the local church, helping with construction projects and reaching out to street kids and children in a special needs orphanage through sports and a Vacation Bible School.

Forty-two (42) members of the TKA school community will travel to Kentucky to work with Christian Appalachian Project (CAP), an organization that has a special program designed to meet the most basic housing needs of impoverished families struggling to survive in Appalachia. Past projects include renovating the inside of homes to building handicap access ramps.

In Los Angeles, a team of 44 from TKA will partner with World Impact to serve the needs of inner-city communities like Skid Row and Watts. This team will host a Vacation Bible School for the kids living in the South Park area and complete a variety of construction projects that will support missionaries and young churches in the inner-city environments.

The San Diego service team of 49 students and staff will serve refugees from all over the world at a day camp where they will provide outreach and counsel to elementary-aged children.

This summer, a pilot team will travel to the city of Binmaley in the Philippines and work alongside the local church and citizens to clean up the public cemetery and help rebuild homes destroyed by recent storms.

The mission of The King’s Academy is to transform lives through Christ-centered college preparatory education. The junior and senior high school of 900 students (grades 6-12) offers a loving, family environment where students are encouraged to grow in their relationship with Jesus, their family, teachers, and others. Please visit our website at www.tka.org.